ILO REPORT ON FL IN BURMA: SLICE 16

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[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
15]
 
 
(7) Other infrastructure work
 
(a) Documentary material
 
444. Nature and conditions of work. In addition to the use of
forced labour on the construction of roads, railways and
associated infrastructure, the Commission also received
information that people from most parts of Myanmar were forced
to work on the construction and maintenance of other
infrastructure projects. These projects included irrigation
works, dams, canals, power-stations, a gas pipeline, airports,
helipads, schools, hotels and a museum, as well as
infrastructure related to events such as the student sport
festival which takes place annually in a different State or
Divisional capital.(738) 
 
445. The general nature and organization of such work was the
same as that described for road and rail infrastructure.(739)
 
446. Specific examples. The information provided to the
Commission contained details of the use of forced labour on a
large number of other infrastructure projects from most parts
of the country.
 
447. Forced labour was used to construct dams and other work
for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. This work
included dams in Bago Division(740) and Rakhine State,(741)
dams and irrigation projects in Sagaing Division,(742) a major
dam project in Shan State,(743) a dam in Tanintharyi
Division(744)  and a canal in Yangon Division.(745) Most of
these projects were major, involving hundreds or even
thousands of labourers.
 
448. There was evidence before the Commission in the form of
secondary statements that forced labour was used for the
construction of helipads in Yebyu township in Taninharyi
Division: helipad at Byu Gyi village, another helipad between
Kadaik and Ohnbinkwin, and a third helipad between
Migyaunglaung and Mayan Chaung, all in 1995.(746) There was
also evidence in the form of a secondary statement relating to
a helipad being constructed in the same region in 1996.(747)
In a communication addressed to the Commission, TOTAL stated
that most of the helipads situated on the pipeline route had
been constructed by TOTAL or by companies working for TOTAL
and applying its code of conduct, although TOTAL did not know
under what conditions other helipads in the region had been
constructed.(748)
 
449. There was information that forced labour, including that
of non-Buddhists, was used on the construction and renovation
of pagodas in Chin State,(749) Shan State,(750) Tanintharyi
Division,(751) the construction of a monastery in Sagaing
Division,(752) as well as for work at Bayintnaung Palace at
Toungoo in Bago Division,(753) Mandalay Palace(754) and on the
construction of a Buddha Museum at Sittway in Rakhine
State.(755)
 
450. Information was provided regarding the use of forced
labour for schools in Chin State, Kayin State and Sagaing
Division, and clinics in Sagaing Division and Tanintharyi
Division.(756)
 
451. Forced labour was used for other projects including the
Student Sport Festival in Chin and Rakhine States,(757) hotels
in Rakhine State,(758)  a toilet for a village in Kayin
State,(759) and a 30-mile fence in Kachin State.(760)
 
452. There was evidence before the Commission in the form of
secondary statements that forced labour was used until May
1995 for ground clearance work to provide access to survey
teams for the Yadana gas pipeline project in Yebyu township,
Tanintharyi Division.(761) In a communication addressed to the
Commission TOTAL stated that it was wrong to claim that the
preparatory clearing work could have been undertaken by forced
labourers for the purpose of facilitating the access of the
project teams. During the years 1993 and 1994, clearing work
had been carried out under the supervision of TOTAL by the
Compagnie gnrale de gophysique (CGG).(762) In view of the
contradiction between the facts presented, and since the
Commission was denied access to Myanmar to supplement its
evidence, no finding on this matter could be made.
 
 
(b) Oral testimony
 
453. Twenty-two witnesses gave evidence covering the period
between 1993 and 1998(763) concerning infrastructure works
involving forced requisition of persons by public authorities
carried out in Kayah, Kayin, Mon, Rakhine and Shan States and
in the Ayeyarwady, Bago and Sagaing Divisions.(764)
 
454. The infrastructure works consist, inter alia, of
construction of irrigation canals,(765) drainage
channels,(766) airports,(767) a hydroelectric power
station,(768) villages,(769) museums(770) or schools,(771)
laying of electrical cables(772) or telephone lines,(773) and
general infrastructure works in preparation for the Student
Sport Festival, including levelling and preparation of a
sports field.(774) The irrigation work generally involved
hundreds of persons coming from dozens of villages that were
often far from the work site. As for telephone lines, a
witness gave evidence that he had to cut logs for the line
between Panglong and Laikha.(775)
 
455. Work organization and working conditions are similar to
those described for road and railway infrastructure.(776) The
order specifying the work to be performed is usually
transmitted by the village head or ward authorities(777)
responsible for finding labour to carry out the required work.
However, the military may intervene directly and round up the
persons needed.(778)
 
456. Each village or group(779) is assigned a section of the
project to be completed.(780) To this end, one person per
family is usually requisitioned(781) and the work is divided
up in accordance with a pre-established rota among the
families of the village or group involved. Men, women and
children - some of them barely ten years old(782) -- work on
these sites.
 
457. The workers are neither paid(783) nor fed(784) and
sometimes have to spend several nights on the site of their
work assignment.(785) Several witnesses stated that they could
avoid having to perform this work if a replacement was
found.(786) Finally, the conditions under which the work has
to be performed are arduous; the workers are frequently
subjected to ill-treatment or other violations of fundamental
human rights, including acts of torture.(787)
 
 
(8) General work
 
(a) Nature and condition of work
 
458. Information was also provided to the Commission that
people throughout the country were forced to carry out regular
tasks such as cleaning and beautifying public areas,
particularly when important officials were due to visit.
Because the nature of the work meant that it was mostly
applicable to urban areas, it was mostly urban residents who
had to carry it out. Government employees in particular were
coerced into doing this work during the weekends.(788)
 
459. The ward authorities were usually responsible for
organizing such work. Typically, one person from each
household in the ward would have to participate for one day
per weekend to carry out these tasks. Soldiers were sometimes
used to supervise this work.(789)
 
460. Residents were also required to maintain their houses to
certain specifications, or face eviction. Such specifications
could include keeping the house painted, or replacing thatch
roofs with a corrugated-iron roof.(790) 
 
 
(b) Specific examples from documentary material and oral
testimony
 
461. The Commission obtained evidence on this topic from
several parts of the country. In Myaungmya in Ayeyarwady
Division, local authorities required one person from each
household to work every Saturday cleaning roads and the school
and hospital compounds.(791) Similarly, one person per family
had to do various jobs in the city of Mandalay.(792) Forced
labour was also regularly used for cleaning up the area around
the lake at Hpa-an in Kayin State(793) as well as for half a
day every Saturday at Loikaw in Kayah State, both around the
town,(794) and at an army camp.(795) General cleaning and
maintenance work also had to be done by one member of each
household every Saturday in Kawthaung town in Tanintharyi
Division.(796) Finally, forced labour was used for cleaning
the town of Mrauk-U in Rakhine State in 1996 in preparation
for a visit by a high-level government official.(797)
 
                              * * *
 
462. In reaching these findings of fact as set out in section
C, the Commission was impressed with the truthfulness of the
accounts given by the witnesses from whom it heard direct
testimony. The questions asked by the Commission of these
witnesses probed issues with a view to establishing veracity,
which included issues about any political affiliation or
membership of any opposition group. In many instances the
witnesses were not educated people and the Commission was
struck by the fact that overall they were careful to draw the
distinction between matters which they had seen or
experienced, and matters of which they had only heard from
others. The Commission was also struck by their candour and
absence of exaggeration. For these reasons, the Commission had
no hesitation in relying on their testimony.
 
463. In reaching its findings of fact in sections B and C,
where those findings relied on documentary evidence as
discussed, the Commission had regard to the relative probit y
of documentary material as indicated. The Commission was
assisted in this task by its confidence in the oral testimony
of witnesses and by the extent to which the oral testimony
corroborated so many aspects of the documentary material, both
as to general patterns and specific detail. 
 
464. Having regard to the vast amount of documentary material
available, the Commission took account of what it considered
as the most reliable information and although many of its
findings could be supported by other documentation, it has
footnoted the major sources and not all sources. Again, the
Commission is confident in these findings.
 
465. The Commission wishes to acknowledge that this inquiry
and its findings would not have been possible without the
assistance of a number of people. While it is unusual for
witnesses to be acknowledged in an inquiry, in this case the
persons who gave oral testimony did so in conditions of
considerable physical difficulty and with a great fear of
reprisal from authorities to themselves or their families
should their identities become known. In one instance,
witnesses, including one who was ill, travelled for some 20
days in order to provide testimony to the inquiry.
 
466. The Commission is also indebted to a number of
individuals and non-governmental organizations who assisted
with identification of pools of witnesses and who made the
sometimes very complicated arrangements for the Commission to
meet them. It was the dedication of these people which enabled
the Commission to have such a spread of witnesses, with recent
information about conditions in Myanmar.
 
467. Finally, on this aspect, the Commission wishes to pay
tribute to staff who not only braved the sometimes difficult
physical circumstances assisting the Commission members in
taking the evidence in locations, but also had the task of
carefully cross-referencing and sifting through the vast
documentary material to identify the information referred to
in this chapter. The relatively simple way in which facts are
described in this chapter belies the complexity of the task,
although the footnotes give some glimmer of their invaluable
work.
 
__________________
 
NOTES
 
738. Recent locations include Sittway (Akyab), Rakhine State,
in 1993; Dawei (Tavoy), Tanintharyi Division, in 1996; Haka,
Chin State, in 1998. 
 
739. See paras. 408-418 above. 
 
740. The information indicated that people from several
villages were forced in 1995 and 1996 to work on the
construction of a large dam for hydroelectric power generation
on the Pa Thi stream in Toungoo township, and that in 1995
people were forced to construct another dam, this time on the
Kyauk Ke Kyi stream in Kyaukkyi township, to produce
hydroelectric power for the army's Tactical Operational
Command headquarters in Kyaukkyi. See Karen Human Rights
Group, 001-0705 to 0708; Burma Issues, 001-0537. 
 
741. Amnesty International, 089-3617. 
 
742. There is information that a large number of people have
been forced since 1994 to work on the construction of the
Thazi dam in Monywa township. People from the Division were
also forced to work on the construction of the Tant Sae dam in
Salingyi township in 1995 and 1996, construction of the Phalan
Kyin dam in Monywa township, irrigation projects on the Mu
river near Shwebo in 1995 and on the Zee Chaung hydro project
in Kalaymyo township from 1990 to 1996. See Karen Human Rights
Group/HRDU, 001-0164 to 0165; Karen Human Rights Group,
154-5148; Images Asia, 167-8332 to 8337.  
 
743. The Nam Wok (Mong Kwan) dam project near Kengtung,
completed in 1994. See Karen Human Rights Group, 001-0028;
Heppner, XII/56-57. 
 
744. 5,000 people were reportedly forced to work on the
construction of a dam in Thayetchaung township in 1995; forced
labour was also used for its repair in 1996. See Mon
Information Service, 001-1280. 
 
745. There is information that in 1994 thousands of people
were forced to dig a canal from Taikkyi township to Hmawbyi
township. See Shan Human Rights Foundation, 001-0364. 
 
746. Karen Human Rights Group, 001-1118, 001-1367 to 1372. 
 
747. John Doe IV, 067-3046 (the location of the helipad was
given, but not included in the affidavit for the protection of
the witnesses). 
 
748. TOTAL, 165-8278 (communication summarized in para. 75
above): "la plupart des hlipads situs sur le parcours
mme du gazoduc ont t construits par TOTAL ou par des
socits travaillant pour TOTAL et appliquant son code de
conduite [TOTAL ignorant] dans quelles conditions [auraient]
t raliss d'autres hlipads dans la rgion". 
 
749. Images Asia, 167-8313. 
 
750. People were reportedly forced to work on the renovation
of a pagoda near Hsipaw in 1996. See Karen Human Rights
Group, 001-0698. 
 
751. For the construction of a pagoda in Palaw township. See
Karen Human Rights Group, H24-6487. 
 
752. As part of the development of the Kabaw valley since
1991, local Christians were forced to construct a Buddhist
monastery. See Images Asia, 167-8347. 
 
753. The information indicated that in 1996 people from
Toungoo township were forced to work on the excavation and
restoration of the Bayintnaung Palace in Toungoo, a site of
significant historical importance. See Karen Human Rights
Group, 001-0707. 
 
754. There is information that in 1995, a large number of
people in Mandalay Division were forced to clean the Mandalay
Palace and dredge the moat. It had been suggested that this
was in preparation for "Visit Myanmar Year 1996". See Karen
Human Rights Group, 001-0574 to 0575, 032-2424, 032-2426. 
 
755. This work was from 1991 to at least 1995, and was
reportedly on land confiscated from local people. See Karen
Human Rights Group, 001-0556 to 0557. 
 
756. The information related to construction of a school in
Falam township, Chin State (Images Asia, 167-8307); the
construction of a school in Tichara village in Myawady
township, Kayin State in 1995 and 1996 (Karen Human Rights
Group, 001-0549 to 0550, 001-0618 to 0619); the completion of
a clinic in Kanbauk village in Yebyu township, Tanintharyi
Division (Karen Human Rights Group, 001-1125); construction of
a school and a clinic as part of the development of the Kabaw
valley in Sagaing Division since 1991 (Images Asia, 167-8347). 
 
757. There was information that forced labour was used in Chin
State during 1997 on infrastructure for the 8th national
Student Sport Festival which, although planned for 1997,
actually took place in Haka from 29 March to 8 April 1998. In
preparation for the festival, people from Haka were forced to
extend a football ground, build a stadium, and construct local
roads. See Karen Human Rights Group, 154-5144. In Rakhine
State, people were also forced to provide construction
materials and carry out other work in relation to the 1993
national Student Sport Festival which was held in Sittway
(Akyab). See written statement submitted by Witness 10,
M07-6648. 
 
758. There is information that forced labour was used in 1995
on the construction of the Sittway Hotel, at the beach near
Sittway (Akyab), and in 1994 for construction of a hotel south
of Ngapali, projects which were reportedly owned by senior
members of the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC). See Karen Human Rights Group, 001-0560. 
 
759. The Commission was provided with a copy of an order from
the military to the village head demanding the construction
of a toilet at a village south of Kawkareik in 1995. The order
stated that "drastic action" would be taken against the
village if it did not build itself a toilet. See 027-2295. 
 
760. The information indicated that forced labour was used
since December 1994 for the construction of a 30-mile fence in
Mohnyin township in Kachin State. See Mirante, I/51-52. 
 
761. Karen Human Rights Group, 001-1120, 001-1124. 
 
762. TOTAL, 165-8278 (communication summarized in para. 75
above): "il n'est pas vrai que des travaux de nettoyage
aient peu tre raliss par des travailleurs forcs dans le
but de faciliter l'acc
s aux quipes du projet. Au cours des
annes 1993 et 1994, l'enl
vement de la vgtation (le
"clearing") [aurait] t assur, sous [le contrle de TOTAL],
par la compagnie gnrale de Gophysique (CGG)". 
 
763. Certain events recounted refer to facts which occurred
before these dates: see, in particular the statement of
Witness 230 concerning the construction of an airport at
Mawlamyine (Moulmein) in 1988. 
 
764. The distribution of persons who provided this information
is as follows: Burman (4); Chin (1); Karenni (3); Karen (5);
Mon (3); Muslim other than Rohingya (1); Rakhine (3); Rohingya
(1); and Shan (1). 
 
765. See statements of Witnesses 14, 217, 219, 238 and 243. 
 
766. See statements of Witnesses 234 and 235. 
 
767. See statements of Witnesses 17, 210 and 230. 
 
768. See statement of Witness 3. 
 
769. See statement of Witness 74. 
 
770. See statement of Witness 13. 
 
771. See statements of Witnesses 190 and 192. 
 
772. See statement of Witness 129. 
 
773. See statement of Witness 177. 
 
774. See statements of Witnesses 10, 13, 99 and 110. 
 
775. See statement of Witness 177. 
 
776. See paras. 427-443 above. 
 
777. Several witnesses mentioned that the order was
transmitted by the village head or section leader (see
statements of Witnesses 3, 96, 117, 219 and 243); others
mentioned orders coming from the Ward LORC (see statement of
Witness 13), or even from the District LORC (see statements of
Witnesses 230, 234, 235 and 238). 
 
778. See statements of Witnesses 170 and 210. 
 
779. The towns and villages are divided according to their
size. 
 
780. See statements of Witnesses 14, 219 and 238. 
 
781. See statement of Witness 219. 
 
782. ibid. 
 
783. See statements of Witnesses 13, 219, 234 and 235. 
 
784. See statement of Witness 219. 
 
785. ibid. 
 
786. The amounts of money which had to be paid for a
replacement vary, the statements specifying amounts ranging
from 50 to 3,000 kyat (see, in particular, statements of
Witnesses 13 (150 kyat), 96 (50 kyat), 217 (3,000 kyat) and
219 (1,500 kyat)). 
 
787. See statement of Witness 219, who claimed to have seen
workers put in stocks and exposed to the blazing sun for hours
on end. 
 
788. On this last point, see the statement of Witness 99. 
 
789. Karen Human Rights Group, 032-2425 to 26; Human Rights
Watch/Asia, H07-5797 to 99. 
 
790. Karen Human Rights Group, 001-0028, 032-2425 to 26. 
 
791. Karen Human Rights Group 001-0534. 
 
792. See also statement of Witness 217. 
 
793. Karen Human Rights Group, 032-2425. 
 
794. See statement of Witness 99. 
 
795. See statement of Witness 96. 
 
796. See statement of Witness 237. 
 
797. Human Rights Watch/Asia, H07-5798. 
 
[END OF SLICE 16]